Consolidation and the EU banking sector

Author: Olly Jackson | Published: 16 Jul 2018

Challenger lenders are driving consolidation in
the European banking sector

Methodology

IFLR publishes its
monthly poll question on iflr.com and Linkedin group page
iflr.com/LinkedIn. Throughout the month,
IFLR’s editorial team gather the responses
and interview selected respondents. The next poll is
online now

Banks are facing more challenges than ever before. The
rise of digital and challenger banks, spurred on by the updated
Payment Services Directive and the potential entry of big tech
conglomerates into the market are causing incumbents to rethink
strategies to react to the growing threats. One solution could
be to merge with the competition to take on the newcomers
together, and many are taking up – or at least
considering – this option.

The number of banks in Europe has been steadily declining
from the 8,525 EU-based credit institutions in 2008 to 6,660 in
2016. Bank mergers, such as that of Spain's Bankia and...